Thursday, February 7, 2013

The Suntour Also Rises

They are selling some interesting parts. First up are these high flange cassette hubs available as Shimano or Campy compatible:

A few years back, I would have been bowled over by these, but now I'm a little more jaded - they look a lot like VO and other hubs coming out of the same factory in Taiwan. This tells you how far the retro/sensible parts movement has come.

But my bored insouciance aside, these do look like nice worthy candidates. Here in Japan, the street price is about $200 a set, which is, interestingly enough, approximately the same price as a set of VO hubs in the U.S.

Globalization.......

Here is another shot of these hubs, which are quite attractive. They have an angle in the outer flange that is sort of interesting:

They are attractive, but my favorite amongst the white labeled neo retro hubs remains the Electra Ticino knockoffs of the Campy Sheriff Star hubs. Longtime readers of this blog will remember this shot of a set I dolled up a little before adorning a Fuji America with them:

Incidentally, these Electra Ticino hubs are super cheap now, you can get a set for $125 USD. Electra has all their Ticino parts and frames 50% off until the end of March. I'm thinking this must mean they are closing out the Ticino venture, so get them now while you can.

The Sun XCD hubs may be a bit "meh", but their 50.4 crank looks fun. You can get this with a spider to make it 110 BCD. I'm not sure why I'd do that, it seems like being in an ambiguous, unable to commit relationship. Nonetheless, it also has a big gizmo lust factor, so I'd buy it on that alone:

The basic crankarms will set you back about $100 here in Japan. I's Cycle in Kyoto, who needs no introduction, sells a nice built-up triple, using TA rings, for a smidge under $300:

Quite nice. I could easily see one of these on my incoming Fuji America.